Guatemala, Guatemala.- Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said Tuesday that he has reinforced border surveillance due to the entry of hundreds of Mexicans fleeing violence by drug trafficking groups.
Since July 23, hundreds of Mexicans have entered Guatemala from the southern state of Chiapas to escape the violence. Of them, 207 have received humanitarian permission to stay.
“We are working with the Ministry of Defense and the National Civil Police” to prevent violence from reaching Guatemalan territory, the president told reporters.
The goal of this reinforcement is to guarantee “the security of Guatemalans” and to prevent “the problems that exist on the other side (of the border) from affecting” the country, the leader added during a working tour in the department of San Marcos, bordering Mexico.
According to the Insight Crime think tank, the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels are fighting for control of border towns that are key to drug, arms and migrant trafficking through Mexico to reach the United States.
The 207 Mexicans who received a 30-day humanitarian residence permit in Guatemala remain in the municipality of Cuilco, where they receive assistance.
“In the case of the communities that arrived in Cuilco, we also have an entire inter-institutional structure to be able to welcome our Mexican brothers who are fleeing violence,” said the Guatemalan President.
He also said that the two nations are coordinating efforts to “be able to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance to refugees and facilitate, for those who wish, the conditions for their safe return” to Mexico.
On August 3, the two countries agreed to carry out joint security operations on the border, maintain communication mechanisms and convene a meeting of the Mexico-Guatemala High-Level Security Group, headed by both Interior Ministers, at the end of August.
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